NSW Greens and BDS

The NSW Greens have reviewed their involvement in the BDS declaring there is a “diversity of views”.

Senator Lee Rhiannon

The Greens NSW State Council meeting held this weekend discussed the report of the Review of the Greens involvement in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign, Greens NSW Senator Lee Rhiannon said.

“The new resolution will replace the BDS resolution adopted by the Greens NSW in December 2010.

“This resolution recognises the legitimacy of the BDS as a political tactic and also recognises that there is a diversity of views in the community and the Greens.

“The Greens NSW affirmed its support for non-violent community actions designed to pressure the Israeli state to respect international law and human rights norms with the aim of ending the occupation of the West Bank and the blockade of Gaza, finding a just solution for Palestinian refugees and ending discrimination against Arab citizens inside Israel.

“I have congratulated the Greens members who conducted the Review.

“While there have been a variety of views among Greens members on BDS there was strong and united commitment to continue our work for Palestinian human rights.

The proposal passed by the Greens NSW State Delegates Council yesterday reads:

The NSW Greens:

Recognise that diplomatic efforts to create good faith negotiations to achieve a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have so far failed.

Affirm support for the Australian Greens position on Palestinian statehood.

Affirm that legitimate criticism of the policy and actions of the Israeli government and related peaceful protests should not be branded, interpreted or dismissed as anti-Semitic.

Oppose all forms of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and all other forms of discrimination.

Reject and condemn false accusations of anti-Semitism.

Recognise the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions(BDS) is a legitimate non-violent political tactic seeking to alter the policies and actions of the government of Israel.

Recognise that there is a variety of views within the community, NSW Greens and the Australian Greens on the BDS.

Recognise that there are different levels of participation described within the BDS framework and each participating individual or community group may choose whether to do so and in a way which is suitable and practical for themselves.

Encourage Australians to inform themselves about the Palestine-Israel issue and political tactics to peacefully resolve the conflict.

Action

That NSW Greens:

Support non-violent community actions designed to pressure the Israeli state to respect international law and human rights norms with the aim of ending the occupation of the West Bank and the blockade of Gaza, finding a just solution for Palestinian refugees and ending discrimination against Arab citizens inside Israel.

Will establish a working group to develop an ethical procurement policy that can be applied to a range of international and domestic issues.

Support the Australian Greens position that the Australian government halt military cooperation and military trade with Israel.

In consultation with the Australian Greens, will endeavour to educate the community about the NSW Greens’ and the Australian Greens’ resolutions on the Israel-Palestine situation and provide information to members and supporters regarding actions they may take to help bring about a just and peaceful solution to the conflict.

Agree that this decision replace the decisions of the Greens NSW SDCs of December 2010 and May 2011 on Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions.

Yair Miller

NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president Yair Miller said: “Whilst we welcome the decision by the NSW Greens to move away from their resolution calling for an active boycott of Israel, it is disappointing that they still feel the need to pay lip-service to a boycott as ‘a legitimate tactic’. Events over the last 12 months have demonstrated what a blunt and immoral tactic it is in practice as well as in theory. The new resolution is still extremely one-sided and naive. It is as though the NSW Greens don’t believe that the Palestinians have any kind of agency or responsibility for their own attitudes and behaviour, or that these play any role in the conflict at all. The new resolution still places the onus for resolving the conflict entirely on the Government and people of Israel. There is also a lack of recognition of the need for a two state solution and we believe this is a minimum for providing justifiable context within the motion itself. We urge the NSW Greens to take further steps towards adopting a more measured and balanced policy.”

Comments

Alon seems to have not comprehended the NSW Greens statement on BDS and to have put my previous observation on Greens/BDS in the memory hole, probably because the Greens support of BDS has gone into a dormant phase, and he thinks that he is safe forever. Wrong. In the Action part of the the NSW Greens duplicitous statement, their first line states that the NSW Greens “Support non-violent community actions designed to pressure the Israeli state…”. Suspending BDS is just a change in tactics until the political climate is deemed more favourable by them.

BC asks why any fair-minded person has a problem with human rights for all and states that there are Israelis who support that staned but the government does not. Firstly, Israel is a democracy and its government is an expression of the will of its people. The constant attempt at false equivalence in painting Israel like the regimes surrounding it is despicable. Secondly, it is a malicious falsification of reality to imply that non-Jewish Israelis are denied equal dignity and quality of life. Thirdly, there is inequality everywhere, but applying pressure to change that is deemed appropriate only against the Jewish state. In Israel, the heredi with large families, who study all day instead of working are as poor as the Arabs with large families who retire early. The Lebanese discriminate against the “Palestinian” “refugees” and the Egyptians persecute (and at times murder) the Copts, but somehow the professional bashers of the Jewish state are blind to those actions. No BDS is ever proposed against those states or even against Sudan for its Darfurian massacre. So spare me the hypocrisy. Issues against Israel are magnified by antisemitic jihadis and their far-left supporters who think any means and any allies are kosher in their battle to bring down the West.

Alon, habibi, for someone who seems to concentrate EXCLUSIVELY on his own parnasa and the hell with the shlemils worried about our Eretz Israel, I wonder why are you so generous and SHARE your selfish views with us.Just like the passion you have with your own pocket, keep your views to yourself !!!

BC, no habibi here, we all know how much your palestinians suffer under the Israeli regime and that all they want is to enjoy listening to Beethoven all day, attain PhD and contribute to world’s peace and quiet and write comedy pieces, such as yours. Bloody Jews are interfering with all that !

The BDS support has been rescinded by the NSW Greens. What is wrong with this?

My business is no longer subject to a insignificant boycott in Australia. This is fine by myself and other Israeli businesses in Australia. The rest of the position is similar to most social democratic western parties. Move along please

Why does any fair-minded person have a problem with a position that advocates human rights for all parties? The situation in Israel is that the Palestinians don’t have the same strength/influence as the government, but they do have equal rights to dignity and quality of life – perhaps not the means to express or press for them. There are many people in Israel who want fair and peaceful outcomes, but the government seems less keen.

Nothing new, surprising and, indeed, worthy of respect for reason and logic emanating from the NSW Greens. It is, in fact, a defining statement for the ENTIRE Green movement in Australia. Bob Brown is just as dedicated to instigating anti Israel policies, as seen in recent UNESCO type statements.
Rita is , once again – and indefinitely it seems – so precise and relevant.
Unfortunately NSW Board of Deps. sees itself as a “refined” political entity of the back door eficiency. So far nothing emerging as positive from a body so rapidly removed from its necessary function. Mr Miller sees himself as an accomplished diplomatic master of …………….what !!! The Landau episode puts the NSWJBD in the box of arrogant absurdities, to say the least.
The Greens are,in efect, willingly and stupidly detaching themselves from the prevailing Australian political rationale. They see themselves so attractive ideologically that being at once vain and oblivious to the political general environment will surely affect their hitherto encouraging progress.
It is up to reasonable and determined people to promote with courage views that will determine radical shifts in the Greens’ policies. Mr Yair Miller seems as radical and energetic on this issue as my pet tortoise, Fufu, residing under or behind the kitchen fridge. On any other issue I have no idea and neither seems he.

Rhiannon’s repudiation of BDS is rubbish. She is giving lip service to the Australian Greens position while reaffirming the NSW Greens adherence to BDS. She babbles about educating Australians about Fakestan and the illegality of the Jewish state, meaning that far too many people see through her for her antisemitism. The NSW demand the right to engage in antisemitic adtivites and demand the right to not have their activities described as such. When a rabble like the NSW Greens exhibit Sharansky’s 3 Ds of antisemitism – double standards, deligitimisation and demonisation – then saying they only exhibit a point of view is invalid. They are antisemitic. They are not naive and describing them as such is naive. Professional Jews must get off their urbane, diplomatic backsides and start to call a spade a spade. If they cannot realise that radical leftist revolutionaries are allying themselves with islamofascists in order to destroy the West of which Israel is a handy easily attacked salient, then they should get out of the way. If the ever so clever diplomats cannot wake up and lead Jews in this time of crisis, they should step aside before events sweep them away. Someone must find the backbone to speak truth instead of being an unctuous, obsequious peace envoy to those who demand war till the end.

“…Rhiannon’s repudiation of BDS is rubbish. She is giving lip service to the Australian Greens position while reaffirming the NSW Greens adherence to BDS…”

Her picture above this article reminds me of this little Lewis Carroll poem from Alice in Wonderland:

How doth the little crocodile
Improve upon his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!
How cheerfully he seems to grin,
How neatly spreads his claws,
And welcomes little fishes in
With gently smiling jaws!

I want to make it obvious that I am a Greens supporter, but I do NOT support any sort of boycott against Israel. I have already made my views known to the several senators in question in New South Wales. And it must be acknowledged that Bob Brown also does NOT support a boycott of Israel. The work that Jeremy Buckingam has done must also not be ignored, he happily joined the Parliamentary Friends of Israel earlier this year, and has spoke out against the nasty protests that have occurred against Max Brenner and other businesses.
I have absolutely no problem saying that Israel deserves to live in peace, and that Israel is the State of the Jewish people. I also acknowledge the right of Palestinians to a peaceful democratic state.

It seems that in forming their new resolution the NSW Greens failed themselves to obtain adequate information on the Palestinian/Israel ‘issue’ – don’t two sides of a coin need to be examined before the whole can be recognised? There’s no mention anywhere in their proposals and new resolution of the necessary recognition of Israel as a State by the Palestinian Authority, the PLO and Hamas; there’s also no mention of the necessity of halting Palestinian rockets and missiles into Israel so that the so-called ‘occupation’ (read security measures) could be modified, making life more liveable for both sides. What a distorted, one-sided affair Rhiannon and her ilk have successfully activated. I certainly won’t be voting Greens again, no matter how good their other policies might be.

Having participated in BDS actions in Melbourne I can say without a shred of doubt that that photograph was NOT taken in Melbourne. I call BS. Show us the uncropped picture.

If someone turned up with a sign like that at a Melbourne BDS rally they would be shunned by the crowd. At the follow-up rally at Max Brenner at month after the police attacked the rally and arrested 19 people, one of the speakers was a young jewish woman who was warmly received by the crowd, and this is common as Palestine solidarity events. Whether it is a speaker or audience member who identifies as jewish during questions, they are not received or treated with any hostility; if anything, people understand and appreciate the long journey they have undertaken to get past the hasbara and start coming to terms with the actual situation (apartheid) in Palestine and Israel.

You claimed these photos were taken at an anti-Israel rally “that Rhiannon promotes and participates in: (taken in Melbourne)”, ie a BDS rally. I disputed that, and I was right.

The photos were taken at a Melbourne rally in January 2009, as Israel rained down death and destruction on the Gaza Ghetto, killing 1400 people in 22 days, including 320 children (ostensibly, because of Gaza rockets that have killed 25 people in 10 years). That’s not a BDS rally.

Read the caption by the person who took the photo:

“I spoke to a policeman about this sign, but by the time I got him here to show him, the sign had been damaged. He said the crowd wouldn’t support her message anyway, and I disagreed. No way a crowd shouting “allahu akhbar” is going to disagree with this woman.”

You must’ve missed that right? As angry as that crowd was, even the police knew they wouldn’t support such a message, and the sign was subsequently damaged.

Maybe it is you who are projecting Rita.

By definition, BDS is a non-violent strategy. I suggest you educate yourself about it, because it isn’t going to go away until Israeli apartheid does.

“I spoke to a policeman … He said the crowd wouldn’t support her message anyway, and I disagreed. No way a crowd shouting “allahu akhbar” is going to disagree with this woman.”

Nor, apparantly would you!

You obviously also approve of Rhiannon, sharing the platform on Sydney Townhall in a big carneval of Judenhass, with Scheik Hilali of Lakemba. That sheik, member of the Islam Brotherhood and recently a guest of Iran’s little Hitler, who infamously suggested that the poor Australian girls deserved to be gang raped by islamic packs, because the way they dressed, they were like meat to a cat.

If you want to see that footage, look for it yourself!

That’s all. I feel very ill at ease in the presence of anti-semites, and that includes self-hating Jews.

1. That sign was not taken at a BDS rally, and is neither endorsed by Rhiannon or myself, nor anybody else associated with the BDS Movement.
2. Rhiannon has never endorsed the raping of “poor Australian girls” by “islamic
packs”, and neither have I, duh.
3. Nothing *I* have written could be interpreted as anti-semitic, for good reason.
4. I’m not jewish, so branding me a self-hating jew is just silly. FYI I’m not muslim either.

Actually, I consider that slur itself an example of anti-semitism. You stereotype jews as all being uncritical zionists, and anybody who deviates from that is therefore branded as “self-hating”. It’s a very ugly form of peer pressure, that denies a diversity of views among jews on Israel’s behaviour.

And then, there’s the islamophbia in your suggestion that a crowd yelling “allahu akbar” supports nazism. That’s ridiculous, and also very ugly.

On apartheid, Ehud Olmert and Ehud Barak have both used the word apartheid to describe a future Israel if the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza continues. I agree with them, but would say it’s not the future, it’s now. 500,000 illegal Israeli settlers are colonising the West Bank and live under Israeli law, while Palestinians in the same territory have no vote in Israeli elections and live under a completely different legal system. Institutionalised discrimination, based on one’s religion: apartheid.

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